engleski

SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF MODERN TOURISTS AS A DETERMINING FACTOR IN THE NEED RECOGNITION FOR TRAVEL

Need recognition for travelling or choosing a tourist destination is the first stage of the tourist destination choice process. This is the moment in which a tourist finds a significant difference between the actual and desired state. When this difference is greater than acceptable, there is a need for traveling. At this stage, tourists are influenced by internal sociodemographic factors, but also by external factors such as technology and social media. The focus of this paper are four sociodemographic features of the tourist - gender, age, degree of education and personal monthly income. We also analyse four social media platforms important for tourism and travel - Facebook, YouTube, TripAdvisor and Booking.com. The aim of this paper is to provide an insight into the attitudes of tourists regarding their socio-demographic characteristics and the importance attached to social media in the stage of need recognition for travel. Tourist attitudes have been collected through online survey on a sample of 1, 057 Croatian tourists, who are also social media users. Research findings show that behaviour of tourists related to social media differs in terms of gender, age, education and income. In the stage of need recognition women attach greater importance to social media than men. Regarding the remaining three observed sociodemographic characteristics, research shows that older people, more educated and those with higher income, take social media as less important in need recognition for travel. On the other hand, younger tourists, less educated and with lower incomes, attach greater importance to social media in need recognition stage. This paper offers the first insight into the role of social media in the need recognition stage for travel and thus significantly contributes to the existing literature on consumer behaviour in tourism.

sociodemographic characteristics of tourists, social media, need recognition, tourists choice

nije evidentirano